Well, it turns out the first rebuilt I got was no good. I switched it out with another rebuilt and I haven't had any problems since--until a few days ago. This is my DD and every day it has been starting right up. On Tuesday I went out to start it and it would not start. I put a charger on the battery overnight and it started up fine on both Wednesday and Thursday...it was completely dead on Friday again. I charged it overnight on Friday and it was dead on Saturday.

One thing I've noticed since the new alternator is that whenever I drive with my headlights on the voltage stays about the same, but as soon as I put on the breaks, the central warning light comes on as does the "Stop Lamp" warning light. The voltage does not change significantly. My "Tail Lamp" warning light is on at all times, even though everything on the back works fine.

When I got home Monday I noticed that the picture on the defrost **** on the pod was bent inwards slightly. I'd noticed it before but never done anything about it. So I pulled it off and put it back on and the problem was fixed. Could that have caused a short? Thats the only thing I did differently.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Could be that the defroster was on ALL THE TIME... That WOULD be a problem for sure... Could have been the issue all along.

 

Then what would be causing it to still malfunction now? The **** is fixed. And even so, if my car was turned off, wouldn't the defroster automatically turn off, even if the **** was pressed in?

 

Oh, I thought you fixed the **** and it fixed the problem. I misunderstood your post. You know this is a real stumper. I have always told folks to RUN AWAY from a 928 with and electrical problem in all honesty because they are nearly impossible to figure out.

Good luck w/ this one... Sounds like you have done all the normal things. You might try systematically pulling some fuses (while the car is sitting in the garage over night) and see if you get to one that when it is OUT the car battery does not go flat. Heck I don't know what else to suggest.

I guess you could take the car out back and set it on fire, that might be less frustrating!

Good luck!
James
Austin, TX

 

Could it just be that the rebuilt has gone bad already? I thought my problems with it not starting were gone for good after these past problem-free months.

 

There is probably a drain somewhere in the system that is slowly killing your battery when it is off overnight. Once the charge is low if you continue to discharge a low battery (ie continued drain) it will kill the battery completely. You might try disconnecting the battery at night every time you drive. However, to truely fix its like pcar928fan said, you have to systematically try to find the drain. I doubt that it is the alternator at this point.

 

It just seems weird because it hasn't had any problems starting since I got the new alternator, which was back in late December. I've been driving it almost every day without problems. It seems too coincidental that it went problem free until I pulled off the defroster **** and put it back. Hopefully I find the problem, I thought its days of not starting were over.

 

The first thing I would do is find the fuse that controls the defroster and pull it! I would leave it out as long as it takes for the car to have problems again.

Fully discharging a battery will kill it FAST! So if it fully discharged once or twice you could be in a vicious circle where you may have to replace it again... I have strange situation with my GTS's. My '94 will start consistently after 3 weeks or even 4 sitting idle. My '92 EURO GTS if it sits for 2 weeks...FOR GET IT! I had them both a the shop at once a few years ago and had them checked for power drains... Guess what...they discharge at exactly the same rate! Both batteries new... I the proved again that 2 weeks (off the trickle charger that I use for the '92 now) and sure enough it would be dead... '94, no problem. CRAZY!

Good luck,
James

 

Does it ever seem like its really hard to turn-over when you think the battery is charged?


What type of transmission, btw?

 

Hrmmm...I don't think I've noticed any problems like that. Automatic trans.

I always have all of my interior lights set to the "off" position, but just to see what happened I turned the dome light to the "auto" position and closed my door, and the light dims, but does not turn off all the way. Now, this light is always in the "off" position whenever I leave my car, but could that still be causing a drain?

 

Check the ground wire from the battery - it goes to a brass post behind the tool area cover - and is held by a large wing nut. Mine worked loose over time and i had many problems with the voltage and charging . Where are you measuring the voltage - is it the same at the battery as it is at the jump post under the hood?
Good luck

 

If the interior lights are staying ON the red door safety lights ALSO stay on, turning off the interior lights does NOT turn off the red lights ....that may be your drain. Also the glove box light might be staying on that is a common drain. Sometimes the rear hatch receiver pin switch gets activated if the parts are worn and that sets off the alarm AND drains the battery.

 

Last year at some point I thought the red lights were causing the drain. The drivers side light doesn't work, but I remember the passenger side red light stayed on. I wasn't really sure what a good solution was so I just removed the bulb. The passenger side interior light doesn't work--its not connected. I found this out when I removed the door panel not long after I got my car. I don't remember exactly what was wrong with it, but I think I remember the wires leading to the light were cut or disconnected.

 

Well I wasn't really sure what was causing the problem, but the light had me a little confused...so I pulled the fuse on the interior lights...which also means no radio. But I've been driving around and I haven't had any problems with the car not starting since I pulled the fuse...but I noticed my voltmeter really bounces around while I'm driving. There are times when I'll start my car up and it'll go up to 16 and be at that the whole time I'm driving, and there are times it'll stay at 12 the whole time. Any ideas?

 

The least reliable source you have for tracking down an electrical drain is the guage. The only reliable method for tracing your problem is to check for drains at the CE Panal when the key is off. You need to isolate the system that is drawing current while the key is off.
There is a good chance you have discovered the problem and it is in the interior light circuit. I would put the fuse back in and check to see if you are drawing current there when the key is off.